Mike Locksley didn’t mince words after Maryland’s 48-23 loss at Nebraska dropped the Terps to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten play. The effort was there, he said. The execution wasn’t.
Locksley said Maryland “came to play this week” and credited the team’s energy and mindset, but he pointed to a stretch of self-inflicted mistakes in the first half that helped Nebraska seize control. Maryland had the blocked punt, then gave up a third-and-27 after a late penalty, and later the pick-six. Against a team like Nebraska, Locksley said, that kind of help is fatal.
“We had a three-drive swing there in the first half when we had opportunities that were there for us where we get the block punt, we give up a third-and-27 with a late penalty, and then we also had the pick-six. And when you play good teams like Nebraska, they don't need help.
That's all coaching. That's execution.
And that's on me, and I'm gonna continue to show up and do the work, the necessary work, until the results catch up.”
He said the Terps showed up with the right mentality and noted it was good to have Dejuan Williams back, calling his return a boost in the run game. Still, the game kept coming back to the same issue: Maryland made too many mistakes on its own.
“It starts with the third down,” Locksley said, pointing to offensive struggles in money situations and also to the defense and special teams giving Nebraska extra chances. “All three phases had their opportunities, and what we've got to do is get these guys to make the plays when they're there, and then we've got to coach better starting with me.”
Third down was the recurring theme throughout his comments. Locksley said the problems were about more than just the players on the field, tying the struggles to both execution and the plan itself. He said Maryland has now gone two straight weeks without getting it done in the spots he labels money downs.
“I can't say about those two particular plays. Depends on where we were in the game, but I can tell you the third down struggles come with execution, not just the players on the field, but also making sure we have a good plan because you can't go two weeks where you have what we call money down situations.
And this week, we had the medians more than the extra long situations that we had a week ago and we didn't get the execution done. Whether it was the play call, whether it was the blocking, whether it was the playmakers making the plays on the perimeter.”
Locksley also said Nebraska adjusted by dropping coverage, which made it harder for Maryland to keep the run game moving. The Terps were able to run early, including some designed sweeps for playmakers like Chris Durr, but they never sustained it.
“I don't think we ever consistently ran it,” he said. He added that Maryland needed to stay on track on first and 10, but too many drives went off script before they had a chance to build.
There was also a broader message in how Maryland responded after the loss. Locksley said the team has bought into a core identity built around getting back up after setbacks.
“I think the big thing is they've really bought into - the DNA for Maryland football is we get up, no matter what happens. We're going to keep getting up.
And that's part of their DNA that we've instilled. But I also think that they approached the work with the right mentality.
This week, we were able to let a little air out of those guys, and I thought that we showed up. And as I told our team we got to keep doing the work, and the results [are] going to eventually catch up.
I know the result and the goal is to win, but we just got to keep doubling down on the work.”
Quarterback Malik Washington’s two interceptions were another major part of the loss, but Locksley said turnovers aren’t always just about the quarterback making a bad read. In one case, he said Nebraska doubled the slant and Maryland wanted to work the other side.
“Typically, when you throw interceptions, it's either you misread the coverage or sometimes they make a play. I can tell you that on the one they jump, they were doubling the slant, and with that coverage, we want to make sure we go to the other side where we have more advantageous matchups.
I still think he made the right decision on one of the interceptions. We just got to get there a little quicker.”
Locksley said Maryland did help Washington early by taking some of the burden off his plate. With the run game working better in the first half and Williams providing explosive runs, the offense got lined up faster and put Washington in a better spot.
“I thought in the first half we did that because we were able to have some run game. Dejuan came in, had some explosive runs and that in itself takes pressure off of you.
Our receivers got lined up a lot quicker. We took some of those things off Malik's plate of having to get the guys lined up.
I thought we got lined up better.”
But even with that help, the same issue kept surfacing: Maryland has to play better in situational football, especially on third down.
“The last two weeks, we got to do a better job of putting a plan together and then we got to do a better job of getting executed.”
Locksley also took aim at Maryland’s defense against Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea, saying the Terps didn’t do enough to keep him contained. He said Colandrea is at his most dangerous as a drop-back passer, but Maryland let him escape and run for over 100 yards, much of it coming on breakdowns in coverage.
“When we did keep him in the pocket, we forced him to make some tough throws. But I didn't think we did a great job of keeping him where we wanted him today.”
For Locksley, the story of the night kept circling back to the same point: Maryland had chances in all three phases, but the Terps didn’t cash in. The blocked punt, the turnovers, the third-down failures, the missed chances to keep Nebraska bottled up - all of it added up to another frustrating loss.
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